The down side of working as much as I need to at this time is that the times you have to rest are very few and far between, not to mention the way-too-small amount of time you have to spend with the family. So this week, while the kids are on Spring Break, I took a well-deserved day off with my new found PTO time now that I'm hired permanent. There was some concern that since it had been raining so much that we might be stuck at home, but that was not the case.
We started with an early lunch before leaving the house for some minor errands. The day took a temporary darker turn when I went into the world's largest retailer, someone who worked there reminded me that I did too. Don't get me wrong, now, it's not so bad a place, but its effect on me is very negative because I don't want to have to work on the weekends. I would rather rest. Well, this put me on edge for a little while, but we had resolved to have a good day, and after working a Rubik's Cube that was hanging around, I felt a bit better.
Now, the plan was to hit the zoo, but I was worried for a bit that since they'd gone to the zoo for an Easter Egg Hunt related to their Nana's work, they might not be so excited to go again so soon. My worries were abated. They were perfectly happy to go again, and even excited to do so. I was relieved, since Iwe didn't have much else planned.
We started through the zoo with the stroller for SassyPants to ride while the others walked. She rode for a little while, then walked, and then I had to carry her. Oh well. That's her lot. That's what she does at the moment. I have to carry her everywhere we go.
The Queen said this day was a good picture day, since a lot of the animals that are normally quite standoffish were practically posing for the camera. A giraffe was right up next to the fence to their compound; the zebras were up next to their fence looking at us; the lemurs were running around crazy (until we got up next to them). It was a decent zoo day. Sometimes, you strike out when it comes to watching the critters run about, but this was a good day.
Following the zoo, we did something called letterboxing. You can read about it on letterboxing.org. Kindof a wild little activity where you follow instructions from that site to find a "letterbox" that someone placed in a public area somewhere. We did this during a recent trip to Roaring River, Mo as well, and while you can sometimes come up short on the box when it has been removed by someone, today, we were a two time success on finding the boxes.
If you're wondering the point, it's all about the hunt more than the contents. These usually contain a little blank book and a stamp. You have your own stamp and book as well, so you essentially trade stamps. You stamp their book with your stamp and your book with their stamp. Then, you put it all back where you found it so the next person can find it. It's quasi-secretive in that you don't want someone who doesn't know what to do to find the letterbox (which doesn't have to be a box -- it can be a bag or anything else that can survive the elements) and make off with it or destroy it.
Following the letterboxing, we went home because everyone was still tired after the zoo, and it was getting to be dinner time. Once home, we capped off the evening with a movie night to watch the recent video release of Enchanted, a Disney film that both spoofs their own princess "genre" as well as giving it a twist and ripping the princess out of the animated work and into our real world "where there are no happy endings."
The movie had enough tongue in cheek to balance its sappiness to make it a pretty good movie. The bit where the princess, in our world, burst into random song and everyone just played along was very fun, and even better was when she called the animals for help. So picture a house full of vermin working diligently to clean up. Would you be willing to tell your houseguests that the immaculate room was cleaned by rats? (and let's not discuss who washed the dishes)
The Socialite has become quite the movie hound. She loves watching films and shows on DVD, and when the movie was playing, she was the one who was right behind the bowl of popcorn, while the other two had long since lost interest.
But the day rounded off very, very well with the kids and bed, and the Queen and I having a quiet evening together. It was a very refreshing day off, and I loved having the time to spend with my wife and family. With my weekends as screwed up as they are at the moment, I don't get a lot of days like this, so I soaked in every minute (except the bits where I was grumpy about having to work on the weekends).
For the time being, business has returned to "as usual," so despite it being Easter Weekend, I'm looking at another weekend of working at nights and missing everyone during the days, and this cycle will continue for probably another 8 weeks. I don't like it, but it's a mess I have to clean up, so I'll deal. I've been going at it since last June, so another 8 weeks isn't going to hurt me any worse.
But I need more days like that Wednesday, and with the weekends opened up, it will be that much easier to obtain them. I very much look forward to that time.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Names and the Other Side of the Wall
Probably the best part of customer service is the sheer variety of people you meet, the names they have, and just the volume of information they're willing to divulge that, let's be serious, you really didn't need to, or want to, know.
The top story this time has to do with a conversation I overheard half of before getting the whole story. I heard this:
From the other side of the wall: Yes, we need another contact number for you, because when I called the one we have, I got ahold of your ex-wife ... Yes, sir, it was a really special moment ... Well, sir, we have this thing called QA, and I can't really tell you what she said, but what I will tell you is...um...you're still very much in her thoughts.
Now, the natural curiosity there is how did that conversation go when he did get ahold of that ex-wife using the wrong contact number? I was curious enough to ask, and here's how the conversation with the ex-wife went:
OSOW (Other Side Of the Wall): Is Harold there?
Ex: No, that lying sack of $h1+ moved out five years ago.
OSOW: I'm sorry, we have this number as his contact number. Do you have a better one for him?
Ex: Yeah, I'll bet it's still written on the bathroom wall. Hold on.
A moment passed before she returned and gave the number and said:
Ex: So is this his cell phone provider?
OSOW: Yes, ma'am.
Ex: Be sure and double bill him for me.
OSOW: Yes, ma'am, I sure will.
Add that to the conversation that followed (that came first here), and we laughed hard. I think one of the most distubring points of the tale was that his number was written on the bathroom wall. Think about the circumstances that would leave to such a need to begin with. She would have had to be in the bathroom with a pen an no paper. She was apparently unable to leave at that time, but needed to write it down. Money says the number was within arm's reach of the toilet...on the wall.
While working with a customer one day, I looked through some of the older notes on her account and ran across a most interesting story. A couple weeks prior, this customer called in to get some information about a phone problem and learned that she could renew her contract the following month to get a new phone. One hour later, we received a fax of a death certificate stating the account holder was deceased, so we canceled the account.
The following day, the account holder called in to find out why her phone wasn't working. We told her we received a death certificate showing she was dead. She said she is not dead and wanted her account restored. Can you imagine this argument? I could...
Cust: I am not dead and I want my phone on.
Rep: I do apologize, but we did receive the paperwork and you are showing as being dead. Dead people can't use phones, so we'll have to keep it off.
Cust: I'm talking to you right now. I'm not dead.
Rep: I've always had a belief in the occult and stuff, so you must be coming in from the other side. Do you have unresolved issues?
Cust: Yeah, turn on my phone.
Rep: I'm sorry, but we don't provide service to dead people.
Anyway...I noticed we tried to run credit on her that day, but had some problems. Makes me wonder how far this death thing really went. We eventually found out this death certificate was intended for another account and phone number, so of course, we reactivated and "apologized profusely" per the notes.
Finally, let's talk names. Names are who we are, and more important define us as people to whoever hears our name. On The Simpsons, Bart has a tendency to call Moe's tavern and ask for people like Amanda Huginkiss, Al Coholic, and Mike Rotch. When I was in the Army I saw a Major whose last name was Dick. Honest. Well, I bet Bart never saw these coming. These are all real names because the cell company required a credit and ID verification and everything. Enjoy.
Peggy Greenquist
Patsy Crookshanks
Troy Biggerstaff
Harry Pinkstaff
Jack Dawson (of the Chippewa Falls Dawson's, of course)
Goin Postal
Chandrashekar Mungerveli-Puttappa (say it 5 times fast)
R U Outavit
Erick Ericksen
Gay Love
Candy Roach (yum)
Latoya Bisch
Richard Peters (this was had the added bonus of when you pull up the memos, the system warned it would take awhile)
Patty Pickles
Phuc Nguyen
Pas Pattipan
Shirley Shatswell (she complained of constipation)
And our all time winner...
Fuk King Kwok (but he was changing his name to Andy)
The top story this time has to do with a conversation I overheard half of before getting the whole story. I heard this:
From the other side of the wall: Yes, we need another contact number for you, because when I called the one we have, I got ahold of your ex-wife ... Yes, sir, it was a really special moment ... Well, sir, we have this thing called QA, and I can't really tell you what she said, but what I will tell you is...um...you're still very much in her thoughts.
Now, the natural curiosity there is how did that conversation go when he did get ahold of that ex-wife using the wrong contact number? I was curious enough to ask, and here's how the conversation with the ex-wife went:
OSOW (Other Side Of the Wall): Is Harold there?
Ex: No, that lying sack of $h1+ moved out five years ago.
OSOW: I'm sorry, we have this number as his contact number. Do you have a better one for him?
Ex: Yeah, I'll bet it's still written on the bathroom wall. Hold on.
A moment passed before she returned and gave the number and said:
Ex: So is this his cell phone provider?
OSOW: Yes, ma'am.
Ex: Be sure and double bill him for me.
OSOW: Yes, ma'am, I sure will.
Add that to the conversation that followed (that came first here), and we laughed hard. I think one of the most distubring points of the tale was that his number was written on the bathroom wall. Think about the circumstances that would leave to such a need to begin with. She would have had to be in the bathroom with a pen an no paper. She was apparently unable to leave at that time, but needed to write it down. Money says the number was within arm's reach of the toilet...on the wall.
While working with a customer one day, I looked through some of the older notes on her account and ran across a most interesting story. A couple weeks prior, this customer called in to get some information about a phone problem and learned that she could renew her contract the following month to get a new phone. One hour later, we received a fax of a death certificate stating the account holder was deceased, so we canceled the account.
The following day, the account holder called in to find out why her phone wasn't working. We told her we received a death certificate showing she was dead. She said she is not dead and wanted her account restored. Can you imagine this argument? I could...
Cust: I am not dead and I want my phone on.
Rep: I do apologize, but we did receive the paperwork and you are showing as being dead. Dead people can't use phones, so we'll have to keep it off.
Cust: I'm talking to you right now. I'm not dead.
Rep: I've always had a belief in the occult and stuff, so you must be coming in from the other side. Do you have unresolved issues?
Cust: Yeah, turn on my phone.
Rep: I'm sorry, but we don't provide service to dead people.
Anyway...I noticed we tried to run credit on her that day, but had some problems. Makes me wonder how far this death thing really went. We eventually found out this death certificate was intended for another account and phone number, so of course, we reactivated and "apologized profusely" per the notes.
Finally, let's talk names. Names are who we are, and more important define us as people to whoever hears our name. On The Simpsons, Bart has a tendency to call Moe's tavern and ask for people like Amanda Huginkiss, Al Coholic, and Mike Rotch. When I was in the Army I saw a Major whose last name was Dick. Honest. Well, I bet Bart never saw these coming. These are all real names because the cell company required a credit and ID verification and everything. Enjoy.
Peggy Greenquist
Patsy Crookshanks
Troy Biggerstaff
Harry Pinkstaff
Jack Dawson (of the Chippewa Falls Dawson's, of course)
Goin Postal
Chandrashekar Mungerveli-Puttappa (say it 5 times fast)
R U Outavit
Erick Ericksen
Gay Love
Candy Roach (yum)
Latoya Bisch
Richard Peters (this was had the added bonus of when you pull up the memos, the system warned it would take awhile)
Patty Pickles
Phuc Nguyen
Pas Pattipan
Shirley Shatswell (she complained of constipation)
And our all time winner...
Fuk King Kwok (but he was changing his name to Andy)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tall Tom Tales Told
Through this bit, you'll probably think I lost my mind to believe some of what you're about to read. Indeed, it's probably true. On the rare occasion that my mind wanders back to the times with Allison, I wonder what was in the air since no rational person would either believe or endure the nonsense I tolerated.
I figure there are a couple of factors that worked in Allison's favor to make me stick around. One that I didn't figure out for quite some time, though I consciously noticed it fairly quickly, was that she bore a strong resemblance to Juliet, hence she was a sort of rebound, though I hadn't, in the beginning, "officially" broken it off with Juliet. The other was that I was just lonely.
You'll have to note that at this time, I'd come home from being in the military for 2 1/2 years. There, I had a group of people I was close to and was friends with. When I came home, I did have my family, but no one else. I worked alone at the Salvation Army because that's what the bell ringer job is. You probably never considered that when you see them out there, but it is in reality a very lonely position because you don't work with the people in the store, and truth be told, I was often shoved into a corner and told to be quiet.
The idea that someone showed me some measure of attention meant something to me. To an extent, the clear fact that she was stringing me along and lying to me didn't really matter. I had a friend. Ok, so not much of one, but still, I wasn't alone. Didn't even matter that for the majority of the time I knew her, there was no romance at all. We were the accursed "just friends."
And so it begins...
Between the time I saw her in the employment office and meeting with her, I was continuing to work on a musical for Theatre Tulsa and was traveling downtown to the Williams theatre at the PAC. She had managed to acquire a job as a concierge at a hotel in Broken Arrow. During the snowstorm that happened that year, she got to stay in an empty room at that hotel rather than drive back and forth.
It was in the hotel that I successfully derailed any chance of a normal relationship with her since I managed to spill that I had been hooked on Juliet in Colorado, and she took that piece of information so seriously that she did not want to be anything but friends, although some part of her also did not want to let me out of her sight either. It was like she wanted to keep me in her reach, but didn't want to actually initiate anything.
Over the course of the next month, she called, and I went over to her house, and we talked or watched TV or played video games (provided I brought my system which was incredibly rare), but 90% of it was just talk. Kind of weird when I think about it on how little we actually did. These times got to the point where they lasted all night, and it was one evening when it got to be 3am, and she said I should just stay over there at her house rather than drive home. I agreed and got me a palette in the living room.
Death of a relationship, part 2, after the lights were out, and she tried sneaking back into the living room. Whatever her original intent was, I don't know, but I thought it would be amusing to tackle her, which I did so quickly, she had no time to react. We stayed there, on the floor, face to face for a very long moment. If there were ever a time to actually kiss her, that was it...and I didn't. Again, the big chicken in me came out, and I did not act. Had I acted, that whole time might have changed, but I didn't. Oh well.
I almost wrote "that's where normal ended," but you have to admit that things weren't entirely normal. After all, it was never just us, you may recall. No, we had Hedy with us 100% of the time. Yeah, that's not 99.9%. That's 100%. She was always there. The only time she wasn't, she was in the bathroom or doing something else in the house, but she was always there. How many guys are lucky enough to go out with a girl and her troll? Yeah, that troll can get mean.
Anyway, if we'd been remotely normal, it was about to climb the diving board and start bouncing. I use that piece of the analogy because this first bit ranks as not quite off the deep end yet. Once you hear it, you'll wonder how much worse it could get, but it does get worse.
I mentioned at one time that I'd seen Phantom of the Opera twice. Once was in Colorado. The other was during this time. I bought the three of us (yeah, the three of us) tickets in the nosebleed section of the theatre to watch it. But before that happened, Allison declared that she'd been going through a talent agency and they actually got her a part as a chorus extra in the touring Phantom for the time it was in Tulsa. Wow, thought I. How cool. After all, how am I supposed to know whether or not touring shows hire local help to fill out their numbers?
She told me a few stories about her time backstage, and then began speaking about the star of the show; the guy who played the Phantom. His name I don't mind sharing since he's a public figure. He would be Thomas James O'Leary. I got to know him simply as Tom. Well, hold on. I never met the guy. Never. Not once. I wouldn't recognize him from anyone else if walked right up to me, but I got to know the name because Allison got to know him during the show. In fact, she started messing with him. They enjoyed a very friendly banter.
She told tales of the drama between her and the woman who played Christine who she said had a thing for Tom, and continued to get pissy when Tom showed affections to Allison and not her. And to make this whole tale more convincing, she moved off the touring Phantom in Tulsa and was replaced after several stories of hers where things got very heated and nasty. Hell of a coincidence to not be true, right?
Her story got a slight breakdown one evening, however, when I wanted to talk to her for some reason, and I decided to visit her at the theatre where she was "working." I went in the stage door and asked security for her, stating she was in Phantom. I didn't realize I'd done this until the guard pointed it out, but on that day, I looked like a total Phantom junkie. I had my Phantom T-shirt on, and I had a pin of the mask on as well. Anyway, obviously she wasn't on the list despite the fact that she told me she would be.
I went to her house, and she was there. She said she was surprised I went up there, and that she was told she wasn't needed tonight. Odd, I thought, since most people work every show when it's on.
Well, the Tom thing didn't stop when the show left town. No, now she and Tom are in a long distance relationship, although he seems to be free to fly down and see her...whenever I'm not around. He's like Santa Claus. She was just telling me all these wonderful things they did and that he bought a house in Tulsa over at Crown Point (high dollar neighborhood) and then he took her to New York.
Now, she didn't really need much to substantiate these stories since I never checked on her. I just stayed home. Who knows what I would have learned if I'd done a few PI moves on the whole situation? Besides, watching her house would have been pointless; she never left when she was there, and her car would have been in the drive way since they "always took his."
Let's throw something else into the mix. During this time frame, I went through more jobs than I've had since. Had (in this order, and I hope I remember) trumpet tutor, pizza delivery, lot porter, assembly worker, lawn mower, pizza delivery again, and cashier. Allison was the catalyst for gaining and/or losing almost every one of those jobs. She got me the assembly job, for example, after she and Hedy started working there. I applied and got in just fine. Then they wanted me to hang with them after they got fired which started to count off my days missed limit. On the third day, I was given the choice to leave the job or stay and work. I left to hang with them. The crappy part of that is that I happened to apply at this temp agency some seven years later, and they still had the records on me and told me they would be unable to hire me. Oh well. No big loss.
Let's make the Tom thing even weirder, shall we? What? That's possible? Oh, I haven't even gotten started. This will prove once and for all that I was completely off my nut during this time period. You see, when I continue this chilling tale of strange events, Tom will talk to me...through Allison.
I figure there are a couple of factors that worked in Allison's favor to make me stick around. One that I didn't figure out for quite some time, though I consciously noticed it fairly quickly, was that she bore a strong resemblance to Juliet, hence she was a sort of rebound, though I hadn't, in the beginning, "officially" broken it off with Juliet. The other was that I was just lonely.
You'll have to note that at this time, I'd come home from being in the military for 2 1/2 years. There, I had a group of people I was close to and was friends with. When I came home, I did have my family, but no one else. I worked alone at the Salvation Army because that's what the bell ringer job is. You probably never considered that when you see them out there, but it is in reality a very lonely position because you don't work with the people in the store, and truth be told, I was often shoved into a corner and told to be quiet.
The idea that someone showed me some measure of attention meant something to me. To an extent, the clear fact that she was stringing me along and lying to me didn't really matter. I had a friend. Ok, so not much of one, but still, I wasn't alone. Didn't even matter that for the majority of the time I knew her, there was no romance at all. We were the accursed "just friends."
And so it begins...
Between the time I saw her in the employment office and meeting with her, I was continuing to work on a musical for Theatre Tulsa and was traveling downtown to the Williams theatre at the PAC. She had managed to acquire a job as a concierge at a hotel in Broken Arrow. During the snowstorm that happened that year, she got to stay in an empty room at that hotel rather than drive back and forth.
It was in the hotel that I successfully derailed any chance of a normal relationship with her since I managed to spill that I had been hooked on Juliet in Colorado, and she took that piece of information so seriously that she did not want to be anything but friends, although some part of her also did not want to let me out of her sight either. It was like she wanted to keep me in her reach, but didn't want to actually initiate anything.
Over the course of the next month, she called, and I went over to her house, and we talked or watched TV or played video games (provided I brought my system which was incredibly rare), but 90% of it was just talk. Kind of weird when I think about it on how little we actually did. These times got to the point where they lasted all night, and it was one evening when it got to be 3am, and she said I should just stay over there at her house rather than drive home. I agreed and got me a palette in the living room.
Death of a relationship, part 2, after the lights were out, and she tried sneaking back into the living room. Whatever her original intent was, I don't know, but I thought it would be amusing to tackle her, which I did so quickly, she had no time to react. We stayed there, on the floor, face to face for a very long moment. If there were ever a time to actually kiss her, that was it...and I didn't. Again, the big chicken in me came out, and I did not act. Had I acted, that whole time might have changed, but I didn't. Oh well.
I almost wrote "that's where normal ended," but you have to admit that things weren't entirely normal. After all, it was never just us, you may recall. No, we had Hedy with us 100% of the time. Yeah, that's not 99.9%. That's 100%. She was always there. The only time she wasn't, she was in the bathroom or doing something else in the house, but she was always there. How many guys are lucky enough to go out with a girl and her troll? Yeah, that troll can get mean.
Anyway, if we'd been remotely normal, it was about to climb the diving board and start bouncing. I use that piece of the analogy because this first bit ranks as not quite off the deep end yet. Once you hear it, you'll wonder how much worse it could get, but it does get worse.
I mentioned at one time that I'd seen Phantom of the Opera twice. Once was in Colorado. The other was during this time. I bought the three of us (yeah, the three of us) tickets in the nosebleed section of the theatre to watch it. But before that happened, Allison declared that she'd been going through a talent agency and they actually got her a part as a chorus extra in the touring Phantom for the time it was in Tulsa. Wow, thought I. How cool. After all, how am I supposed to know whether or not touring shows hire local help to fill out their numbers?
She told me a few stories about her time backstage, and then began speaking about the star of the show; the guy who played the Phantom. His name I don't mind sharing since he's a public figure. He would be Thomas James O'Leary. I got to know him simply as Tom. Well, hold on. I never met the guy. Never. Not once. I wouldn't recognize him from anyone else if walked right up to me, but I got to know the name because Allison got to know him during the show. In fact, she started messing with him. They enjoyed a very friendly banter.
She told tales of the drama between her and the woman who played Christine who she said had a thing for Tom, and continued to get pissy when Tom showed affections to Allison and not her. And to make this whole tale more convincing, she moved off the touring Phantom in Tulsa and was replaced after several stories of hers where things got very heated and nasty. Hell of a coincidence to not be true, right?
Her story got a slight breakdown one evening, however, when I wanted to talk to her for some reason, and I decided to visit her at the theatre where she was "working." I went in the stage door and asked security for her, stating she was in Phantom. I didn't realize I'd done this until the guard pointed it out, but on that day, I looked like a total Phantom junkie. I had my Phantom T-shirt on, and I had a pin of the mask on as well. Anyway, obviously she wasn't on the list despite the fact that she told me she would be.
I went to her house, and she was there. She said she was surprised I went up there, and that she was told she wasn't needed tonight. Odd, I thought, since most people work every show when it's on.
Well, the Tom thing didn't stop when the show left town. No, now she and Tom are in a long distance relationship, although he seems to be free to fly down and see her...whenever I'm not around. He's like Santa Claus. She was just telling me all these wonderful things they did and that he bought a house in Tulsa over at Crown Point (high dollar neighborhood) and then he took her to New York.
Now, she didn't really need much to substantiate these stories since I never checked on her. I just stayed home. Who knows what I would have learned if I'd done a few PI moves on the whole situation? Besides, watching her house would have been pointless; she never left when she was there, and her car would have been in the drive way since they "always took his."
Let's throw something else into the mix. During this time frame, I went through more jobs than I've had since. Had (in this order, and I hope I remember) trumpet tutor, pizza delivery, lot porter, assembly worker, lawn mower, pizza delivery again, and cashier. Allison was the catalyst for gaining and/or losing almost every one of those jobs. She got me the assembly job, for example, after she and Hedy started working there. I applied and got in just fine. Then they wanted me to hang with them after they got fired which started to count off my days missed limit. On the third day, I was given the choice to leave the job or stay and work. I left to hang with them. The crappy part of that is that I happened to apply at this temp agency some seven years later, and they still had the records on me and told me they would be unable to hire me. Oh well. No big loss.
Let's make the Tom thing even weirder, shall we? What? That's possible? Oh, I haven't even gotten started. This will prove once and for all that I was completely off my nut during this time period. You see, when I continue this chilling tale of strange events, Tom will talk to me...through Allison.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Into the Fireplace
The opportunity was there. I was injured on the job and physically unable to return to the same position. I got a note from Goldfinger saying I couldn't go aboe 15 feet and I couldn't go on rooftops. This is reasonable as I had no depth perception, and having that is critical to, say, catching yourself so you don't fall off a roof.
I took this info to the Fireboss, and he read the restriction. He made a serious of weird faces as he looked at it...for probably five or ten minutes he did this. He probably wanted to say "go away," but he legally couldn't. He apparently didn't know what to do with me. He should have said, "we don't have a place for you," and I would have been free in my mind to go onto the retraining...but he didn't.
No, instead he waffled around for a week, talking on his phone to his wife (the other half of the business) and generally wasting time. I finally called the lawyer I'd gotten to deal with the whole matter to see what he thought, and he put pressure on the insurance people to put pressure on the Fireboss to make a decision. So a decision was made.
I became a technician under the guy who installed the gas logs. My job became going to houses, both new and old, to install and repair gas logs of all varieties. It was highly technical and mechanical type work, but perfect for my sensibilities, so for a time, I enjoyed it.
I'd say one of the most amusing times I had (and saddest) was when I'd gone out to a house to find out why their remote wasn't working. First thing I did: change the battery. It worked. That'll be $45. They fussed, but I deferred to the office, and that it was a service call. That was about the only time I ever dealt with cash of any kind, too. Most of the time, the service was already paid for.
The Queen, at that time, was employed at a bank working in the cash vault in the dungeon. She has this thing for money. Now don't misunderstand me, she's not one of those weird greedy chicks, but she likes the smell of the paper money, especially when it's brand new. When she was growing up, she always went for the paper rather than coins like most kids, because she thought it was "pretty." Smart kid.
So to date, she's the only one of us who's actually seen what a million dollars in cash looks like since she had occasion to deal with that much down there counting in the dungeon.
Once I was installing the logs, though, we were back on track as much as we were before. The wedding had been scheduled for the coming April, and preparations were well underway. She is far more qualified to speak of all that than I am, because you have to remember what a guy's job is in the preparation of a wedding: stay out of the way when not requested, provide input only when requested, and show up on time.
That's not a chauvinistic approach. It's just that a wedding is what women plan for, and they want to shoot for as close to their dream as they can. The groom is just a part of that process that they have to include in the overall plans. And after I went back to work, there was about 5 months until the magic day.
The basics were covered at this point. It was going to be at a church that her grandmother still attends in her family's original hometown as opposed to Broken Arrow. The Queen was going crazy getting all the little details put together and for me, I haven't a clue, which is where they wanted me. After all, my job is to show up. I'm sure she could go on for a year writing just about the wedding and all that went into it.
Me? I was just happy to with her. The wedding was exciting, and I had my own bits of things to take care of as well. After all, we had to live somewhere, so I was taking care of my duties by seeking out an apartment to get us started in. A place where the two of us were going to begin a new life together as a family.
It seems so long ago, and it's nothing short of amazing as to how much can happen in only a few years. Next month, we hit nine years of being married, and those nine years were probably the most eventful I've ever had. Learning doesn't stop after you get out of school. Every day something happens to add to your knowledge and experiences of life. You learn to depend on yourself and depend on others and learning to find the balance of when to rely on each of those.
One thing I know is that you can't live your life alone. It's just not possible. Hermits manage to get by alone, but they miss a lot that this world has to offer. Everyone survives symbiotically reliant on others around them, and through those relationships we grow and change and continue to become a little bit better (or worse) every day. My life is what I've made of it, and in retrospect, I can see how every decision has lead me to different ends, and I reflect on what I might do different should individual occasions arise again.
Sometimes, I wonder if I would want to change how things played out over my life. Would I try to hook up with the Queen in high school? Would I go to college? Would I have taken the chance to hit West Point? But with each change, there would have been changes to everything else that happened. What about all the good things that have occurred in my life? Would I want those good things to change? Rock Girl is the way she is because of when she was born, how we were when she was growing up, and the experiences she was given based on our experiences at the time, and she is a wonderful child. I wouldn't want her to change at all, but changing my past would change her.
Same would go for the other two as well. Changing anything about our pasts would alter their makeup and personalities, and even the circumstances under which they were conceived which would change their entire being. Would I want them to change? No, I wouldn't. I would want a better life for them, but I want them just the way they are. That means that I can't change anything.
Life is a delicate balance of everything that happens. No, I'm not a Zen master or anything, but that seems to me to be a basic truth. But no, I don't subscribe to the idea that when a butterfly dies in central Africa that it affects me over here or there is some all powerful force of microscopic beings that holds the universe together. But we do make a life for ourselves that means something to us and those around us. It's that very idea that makes the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" so powerful.
Anyway, such are the thoughts that occur to me now after nine years, where at the time, I was just excited to be getting married to the girl I loved more than anything in the world. And although people have trouble believing it, we had no idea we were only a few months away from having another girl drop into our lives and rock our world in ways we never thought possible.
I took this info to the Fireboss, and he read the restriction. He made a serious of weird faces as he looked at it...for probably five or ten minutes he did this. He probably wanted to say "go away," but he legally couldn't. He apparently didn't know what to do with me. He should have said, "we don't have a place for you," and I would have been free in my mind to go onto the retraining...but he didn't.
No, instead he waffled around for a week, talking on his phone to his wife (the other half of the business) and generally wasting time. I finally called the lawyer I'd gotten to deal with the whole matter to see what he thought, and he put pressure on the insurance people to put pressure on the Fireboss to make a decision. So a decision was made.
I became a technician under the guy who installed the gas logs. My job became going to houses, both new and old, to install and repair gas logs of all varieties. It was highly technical and mechanical type work, but perfect for my sensibilities, so for a time, I enjoyed it.
I'd say one of the most amusing times I had (and saddest) was when I'd gone out to a house to find out why their remote wasn't working. First thing I did: change the battery. It worked. That'll be $45. They fussed, but I deferred to the office, and that it was a service call. That was about the only time I ever dealt with cash of any kind, too. Most of the time, the service was already paid for.
The Queen, at that time, was employed at a bank working in the cash vault in the dungeon. She has this thing for money. Now don't misunderstand me, she's not one of those weird greedy chicks, but she likes the smell of the paper money, especially when it's brand new. When she was growing up, she always went for the paper rather than coins like most kids, because she thought it was "pretty." Smart kid.
So to date, she's the only one of us who's actually seen what a million dollars in cash looks like since she had occasion to deal with that much down there counting in the dungeon.
Once I was installing the logs, though, we were back on track as much as we were before. The wedding had been scheduled for the coming April, and preparations were well underway. She is far more qualified to speak of all that than I am, because you have to remember what a guy's job is in the preparation of a wedding: stay out of the way when not requested, provide input only when requested, and show up on time.
That's not a chauvinistic approach. It's just that a wedding is what women plan for, and they want to shoot for as close to their dream as they can. The groom is just a part of that process that they have to include in the overall plans. And after I went back to work, there was about 5 months until the magic day.
The basics were covered at this point. It was going to be at a church that her grandmother still attends in her family's original hometown as opposed to Broken Arrow. The Queen was going crazy getting all the little details put together and for me, I haven't a clue, which is where they wanted me. After all, my job is to show up. I'm sure she could go on for a year writing just about the wedding and all that went into it.
Me? I was just happy to with her. The wedding was exciting, and I had my own bits of things to take care of as well. After all, we had to live somewhere, so I was taking care of my duties by seeking out an apartment to get us started in. A place where the two of us were going to begin a new life together as a family.
It seems so long ago, and it's nothing short of amazing as to how much can happen in only a few years. Next month, we hit nine years of being married, and those nine years were probably the most eventful I've ever had. Learning doesn't stop after you get out of school. Every day something happens to add to your knowledge and experiences of life. You learn to depend on yourself and depend on others and learning to find the balance of when to rely on each of those.
One thing I know is that you can't live your life alone. It's just not possible. Hermits manage to get by alone, but they miss a lot that this world has to offer. Everyone survives symbiotically reliant on others around them, and through those relationships we grow and change and continue to become a little bit better (or worse) every day. My life is what I've made of it, and in retrospect, I can see how every decision has lead me to different ends, and I reflect on what I might do different should individual occasions arise again.
Sometimes, I wonder if I would want to change how things played out over my life. Would I try to hook up with the Queen in high school? Would I go to college? Would I have taken the chance to hit West Point? But with each change, there would have been changes to everything else that happened. What about all the good things that have occurred in my life? Would I want those good things to change? Rock Girl is the way she is because of when she was born, how we were when she was growing up, and the experiences she was given based on our experiences at the time, and she is a wonderful child. I wouldn't want her to change at all, but changing my past would change her.
Same would go for the other two as well. Changing anything about our pasts would alter their makeup and personalities, and even the circumstances under which they were conceived which would change their entire being. Would I want them to change? No, I wouldn't. I would want a better life for them, but I want them just the way they are. That means that I can't change anything.
Life is a delicate balance of everything that happens. No, I'm not a Zen master or anything, but that seems to me to be a basic truth. But no, I don't subscribe to the idea that when a butterfly dies in central Africa that it affects me over here or there is some all powerful force of microscopic beings that holds the universe together. But we do make a life for ourselves that means something to us and those around us. It's that very idea that makes the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" so powerful.
Anyway, such are the thoughts that occur to me now after nine years, where at the time, I was just excited to be getting married to the girl I loved more than anything in the world. And although people have trouble believing it, we had no idea we were only a few months away from having another girl drop into our lives and rock our world in ways we never thought possible.
Tabbed Out
There are some things in technology that tend to spoil us. Video games let us live vicariously in another person's life, controlling their every action. Automobiles get us all over the place at high speeds not possible only a century ago. Computers allow us to create, explore, and communicate with others near impossible in any other medium.
A recent addition to the canon of life on computers has been these little things called tabs. FireFox was an early purveyor of them. Opera uses them. Then Internet Explorer 7.0 came out and added tabs to its lineup as well. At work, I used tabs to organize my desktop and keep everything neat and tidy. Then it all came to an end.
An email rolled down from the powers that be who determined that IE7 caused "back end" problems with some of their software environments, and pointed out to the plethora of users who have this app installed that IE6 is the officially supported application, and mandated that all users immediately downgrade to IE6 to comply with their supported app standards and alleviate these "back end" problems they seem to be having.
For me, this is a blow to how I do things. Our ticket application is a window sucking fiend. You open one window to log in. Click on queue, and another window opens. Want a ticket, another window. God forbid you want to keep a ticket open cause that's a window that you won't be closing. With IE7, I had all of these windows wrapped up in tabs. I'd have 5 or 6 tabs open at once, but all in one window. Now... I've got 5 or 6 windows open just for this one app. Nevermind, our main application that I had kept three tabs for in another window. It'll change the way I work.
In other news, The Socialite has officially decided to claim Rock Girl's old skate shoes. Of course, she has swiped them now and again, but to my knowledge, never wore them out in public. Yesterday, she did...and to my arm she clung as she slipped and slid all over the place with those wheels down. Rock Girl skated circles around us as usual in her heeleys, while Socialite struggled to stay on her feet. She had fun, though, which is the real point.
Dancing With The Stars started last night, and well, that's an event in my house, anyway. Everyone (except me) gathers around to watch the competition and they really get into it. Me, I'm not much into awards shows and such. I prefer to catch the summary at the end when the scores are meted out. While they were watching the show, I was running in and out of my room ripping DVDs onto my iPod. What can I say? I've had Halloween (Rob Zombie, 07 version) for months, and I still haven't watched it. Yes, I've seen the 78 version.
To cap off last night, The Queen and I played two player Guitar Hero 3, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late given that I'd been up since 9:00pm Sunday evening (I worked at the world's largest retailer on Sunday night). I love playing that game, and playing with someone makes it all that much more fun. I have been going back and forth between hard and expert, but I stuck with hard last night. I'm getting rather good at it.
As a matter of fact, I beat Slash on hard, and it was a battle royale too. We went through most of the song before I finally took him down. I've never lasted that long on any of those battle songs, so I was pretty proud of myself.
The Queen is getting really good as well. This is the first GH game she's played, but last night, we managed a five star song. It's only the second one I've garnered on the hard level, and her first on easy, so we were rather proud of ourselves. Round about 1:00, though, we were also really tired.
Usually, the Queen wants a story as we go to sleep, but last night, I didn't get very far before the next thing I knew, the alarm was going off to get up and go again this morning.
A recent addition to the canon of life on computers has been these little things called tabs. FireFox was an early purveyor of them. Opera uses them. Then Internet Explorer 7.0 came out and added tabs to its lineup as well. At work, I used tabs to organize my desktop and keep everything neat and tidy. Then it all came to an end.
An email rolled down from the powers that be who determined that IE7 caused "back end" problems with some of their software environments, and pointed out to the plethora of users who have this app installed that IE6 is the officially supported application, and mandated that all users immediately downgrade to IE6 to comply with their supported app standards and alleviate these "back end" problems they seem to be having.
For me, this is a blow to how I do things. Our ticket application is a window sucking fiend. You open one window to log in. Click on queue, and another window opens. Want a ticket, another window. God forbid you want to keep a ticket open cause that's a window that you won't be closing. With IE7, I had all of these windows wrapped up in tabs. I'd have 5 or 6 tabs open at once, but all in one window. Now... I've got 5 or 6 windows open just for this one app. Nevermind, our main application that I had kept three tabs for in another window. It'll change the way I work.
In other news, The Socialite has officially decided to claim Rock Girl's old skate shoes. Of course, she has swiped them now and again, but to my knowledge, never wore them out in public. Yesterday, she did...and to my arm she clung as she slipped and slid all over the place with those wheels down. Rock Girl skated circles around us as usual in her heeleys, while Socialite struggled to stay on her feet. She had fun, though, which is the real point.
Dancing With The Stars started last night, and well, that's an event in my house, anyway. Everyone (except me) gathers around to watch the competition and they really get into it. Me, I'm not much into awards shows and such. I prefer to catch the summary at the end when the scores are meted out. While they were watching the show, I was running in and out of my room ripping DVDs onto my iPod. What can I say? I've had Halloween (Rob Zombie, 07 version) for months, and I still haven't watched it. Yes, I've seen the 78 version.
To cap off last night, The Queen and I played two player Guitar Hero 3, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late given that I'd been up since 9:00pm Sunday evening (I worked at the world's largest retailer on Sunday night). I love playing that game, and playing with someone makes it all that much more fun. I have been going back and forth between hard and expert, but I stuck with hard last night. I'm getting rather good at it.
As a matter of fact, I beat Slash on hard, and it was a battle royale too. We went through most of the song before I finally took him down. I've never lasted that long on any of those battle songs, so I was pretty proud of myself.
The Queen is getting really good as well. This is the first GH game she's played, but last night, we managed a five star song. It's only the second one I've garnered on the hard level, and her first on easy, so we were rather proud of ourselves. Round about 1:00, though, we were also really tired.
Usually, the Queen wants a story as we go to sleep, but last night, I didn't get very far before the next thing I knew, the alarm was going off to get up and go again this morning.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Guitar Hero and Me
I've gone about this game a couple of times, but I figure I'd give a little history about me and the game, and how I came to be so hooked on it. I'd seen the game a few times here and there. They had it set up once in the arcade at a Wal-Mart before, and I'd seen it run from the checkout but I paid it no attention at all. Just wasn't interested in a video game about guitar playing.
Well, last year during a break from stocking, the store had Guitar Hero Encore: the 80's setup on the PS2 as a demo. I figured I'd try it. I played Mental Health (Bang Your Head) by Quiet Riot which is the first song on the game. I set it for easy, and failed out pretty quickly. But there was some fun in there, so I played it again. I did this for my entire break. Then I came back on lunch and finally got through Bang Your Head and went on to No One Like You by Scorpions.
I went on like this for as long as they had the demo setup to play, taking every moment I had to play this game. I ended up playing all 30 songs on the game, and I moved on to medium and began mastering them on medium. I started having to play the career mode to unlock the songs since they had no memory card in the system and shut it off periodically. I got so proficient at medium, that I began playing the hard level before they finally took down the demo.
But by then, it was getting close to Thanksgiving and the release of Guitar Hero 3. So I played Guitar Hero 3 for a very short time before some geniuses backed up too far from the system, knocking the PS2 to the floor and busting the disc. No more GH3. But not to worry...another game was to fill that void.
Let's talk about Rock Band. I love this game too, but there's a little story behind it and why it isn't Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero was created by two companies: Red Octane that made the peripherals (the guitar controllers) and owned the rights to the game and Harmonix, that did the programming of the game itself. Well, in 2007, Red Octane was bought by Activision and Harmonix was bought by MTV. This meant that Activision owned the rights to make the game, but none of the original coders, and MTV got the coders but not the game.
This means that Guitar Hero 3 was put out by a different company than the one that made the first 3. Rock Band, by contrast was put out by the original company, but they couldn't use the name or original program. I got to play a demo for Rock Band on a PS3 that was setup in the Christmas area of the store, and I fell in love all over again. This one had not only the guitar which was fun, but also drums. And the drums were just like playing the real drums (which I do play) and it gives you the option to select bass or guitar on any level with the free play mode (the only one open on the demo version).
This game was awesome with its different modes and I even got the family up there playing along too. But then too many rough players happened. The guitar broke; wouldn't work at all. Then the drums stopped working to the point that the game was no longer playable. It was taken down as well, and no other guitar games were put up to demo, and that was understandable.
The damage, however, was done. I was hooked. I at least wanted a PS2 to get all of these games to play, but getting one proved to be a fruitless venture. Darth Vader had a PS2 and PS3 but was unwilling to part with his PS2, even to sell it. I learned later this was likely due to the fact that not 100% of the PS2 games are playable on the PS3, so I can follow his wanting to keep it just in case.
We had wanted a Wii for quite some time, and encouragement for the future came in the form of an article that said that Rock Band (while not available for the Wii last Christmas) is supposed to come out for it in the future. They were delayed because they couldn't figure out a good way to use the Wiimote (that little piece gives everyone fits).
I was torn for awhile on whether to get GH3 for the Wii, or continue to hold out for the PS2. I finally decided that we have a Wii, and getting the Wii version would take no convincing of the Queen, and I'd have the game a lot sooner than waiting for the PS2 that may never come. Besides, given that you can still get an 8-bit Nintendo, I can get a PS@ someday if I'm really wanting the original games, and play then.
So now I have GH3, and I started on medium, finished it, and have moved on to hard and expert, though I often waffle back and forth between all three levels working to master the 70 songs in the total game. With the glorious addition of the additional controller, 2 player capability is wide open, and the Engineer and I played co-op for a couple hours before I had to leave on Saturday night. It was very fun, though he won't let me play bass.
The big joy in this realm though, is that a new GH game is scheduled for June, and it is supposed to be based on the music of Aerosmith, of all things. Haven't listened to a wealth of (well, any) Aerosmith, so that should be interesting. They have a knack for picking catchy songs in the games, so I am fairly certain we'll get hooked on it too. Can't wait.
There is also a GH4 in the works hopefully for Christmas of this year. Of course, no info is out about that except that one artist spilled that a song of his will be on it. It's a big franchise with unlimited sequel possibilities, so I doubt it is something they'll stop making anytime soon. Given how big it is, I doubt we'll ever get so desperate for more games that we'll go to the PS2 for it's first three. After all, there is potential that by the end of the year, we'll have 3 games anyway.
So I'm hooked on this game, lock, stock and barrel. I've had games that I played for months on end before (Lego Star Wars is a prime example that I played non-stop for months on the GameCube), but I'll bet that this one will outdo them all. I enjoy playing the real guitar, and I enjoy playing video games. With a game that offers an outlet to do both at once, I can't see my interest waning on it.
But I would also like to add that the Queen has her own game going and while she doesn't seem to want to admit, she seems to enjoy it rather well too. She's finished the easy level and is going back to master it before moving onto medium.
Well, last year during a break from stocking, the store had Guitar Hero Encore: the 80's setup on the PS2 as a demo. I figured I'd try it. I played Mental Health (Bang Your Head) by Quiet Riot which is the first song on the game. I set it for easy, and failed out pretty quickly. But there was some fun in there, so I played it again. I did this for my entire break. Then I came back on lunch and finally got through Bang Your Head and went on to No One Like You by Scorpions.
I went on like this for as long as they had the demo setup to play, taking every moment I had to play this game. I ended up playing all 30 songs on the game, and I moved on to medium and began mastering them on medium. I started having to play the career mode to unlock the songs since they had no memory card in the system and shut it off periodically. I got so proficient at medium, that I began playing the hard level before they finally took down the demo.
But by then, it was getting close to Thanksgiving and the release of Guitar Hero 3. So I played Guitar Hero 3 for a very short time before some geniuses backed up too far from the system, knocking the PS2 to the floor and busting the disc. No more GH3. But not to worry...another game was to fill that void.
Let's talk about Rock Band. I love this game too, but there's a little story behind it and why it isn't Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero was created by two companies: Red Octane that made the peripherals (the guitar controllers) and owned the rights to the game and Harmonix, that did the programming of the game itself. Well, in 2007, Red Octane was bought by Activision and Harmonix was bought by MTV. This meant that Activision owned the rights to make the game, but none of the original coders, and MTV got the coders but not the game.
This means that Guitar Hero 3 was put out by a different company than the one that made the first 3. Rock Band, by contrast was put out by the original company, but they couldn't use the name or original program. I got to play a demo for Rock Band on a PS3 that was setup in the Christmas area of the store, and I fell in love all over again. This one had not only the guitar which was fun, but also drums. And the drums were just like playing the real drums (which I do play) and it gives you the option to select bass or guitar on any level with the free play mode (the only one open on the demo version).
This game was awesome with its different modes and I even got the family up there playing along too. But then too many rough players happened. The guitar broke; wouldn't work at all. Then the drums stopped working to the point that the game was no longer playable. It was taken down as well, and no other guitar games were put up to demo, and that was understandable.
The damage, however, was done. I was hooked. I at least wanted a PS2 to get all of these games to play, but getting one proved to be a fruitless venture. Darth Vader had a PS2 and PS3 but was unwilling to part with his PS2, even to sell it. I learned later this was likely due to the fact that not 100% of the PS2 games are playable on the PS3, so I can follow his wanting to keep it just in case.
We had wanted a Wii for quite some time, and encouragement for the future came in the form of an article that said that Rock Band (while not available for the Wii last Christmas) is supposed to come out for it in the future. They were delayed because they couldn't figure out a good way to use the Wiimote (that little piece gives everyone fits).
I was torn for awhile on whether to get GH3 for the Wii, or continue to hold out for the PS2. I finally decided that we have a Wii, and getting the Wii version would take no convincing of the Queen, and I'd have the game a lot sooner than waiting for the PS2 that may never come. Besides, given that you can still get an 8-bit Nintendo, I can get a PS@ someday if I'm really wanting the original games, and play then.
So now I have GH3, and I started on medium, finished it, and have moved on to hard and expert, though I often waffle back and forth between all three levels working to master the 70 songs in the total game. With the glorious addition of the additional controller, 2 player capability is wide open, and the Engineer and I played co-op for a couple hours before I had to leave on Saturday night. It was very fun, though he won't let me play bass.
The big joy in this realm though, is that a new GH game is scheduled for June, and it is supposed to be based on the music of Aerosmith, of all things. Haven't listened to a wealth of (well, any) Aerosmith, so that should be interesting. They have a knack for picking catchy songs in the games, so I am fairly certain we'll get hooked on it too. Can't wait.
There is also a GH4 in the works hopefully for Christmas of this year. Of course, no info is out about that except that one artist spilled that a song of his will be on it. It's a big franchise with unlimited sequel possibilities, so I doubt it is something they'll stop making anytime soon. Given how big it is, I doubt we'll ever get so desperate for more games that we'll go to the PS2 for it's first three. After all, there is potential that by the end of the year, we'll have 3 games anyway.
So I'm hooked on this game, lock, stock and barrel. I've had games that I played for months on end before (Lego Star Wars is a prime example that I played non-stop for months on the GameCube), but I'll bet that this one will outdo them all. I enjoy playing the real guitar, and I enjoy playing video games. With a game that offers an outlet to do both at once, I can't see my interest waning on it.
But I would also like to add that the Queen has her own game going and while she doesn't seem to want to admit, she seems to enjoy it rather well too. She's finished the easy level and is going back to master it before moving onto medium.
There is Power
Last week, I declared to the Queen that I simply must acquire a second guiar controller for the Wii, so multi-player Guitar Hero would be a lot easier than the second play playing what I referred to as the Wii-inet. This is the Wiimote being used as a second guitar but using the buttons to play the notes on screen. Amusingly, holding it to play the notes resembles playing a clarinet or similar woodwind instrument, hence, the Wii-inet.
We went out a few times during the week to see if a controller was anywhere in town, since I'd seen on Amazon that a third party one was coming out Friday, but that a non-third party one had been out for a little while. No dice on finding one anywhere.
Friday night came and it's off to the world's largest retailer, but big surprise... After driving about all night, now the car won't start. I give the Engineer a call and then call the store to let the manager know I'll be late. We determine kinda quickly that the issue is the battery and probably not enough cranking amps, since it had enough voltage. The Engineer gave me a jump and followed me to the store; the car shuddered on some stops, but we made it.
So that evening, while wandering through the store, I found it. Up on a shelf was a stand-alone guitar controller for the Wii. It called to me to be acquired immediately lest some early shopper deprive me of the one I need. I took it down immediately, bought it along with a couple items the Queen needed, and toted it to the trunk of my now completely-unable-to-start car. It was a little cool in the trunk, so I covered the controller with the Queen's coat (yeah, like that will keep it from getting cold).
Well, then enter the horror of a completely idle mind -- I knew that a new battery would cost me dearly the next morning, and my mind wandered to the state of the bank account and I realized that when everything was added together, I didn't have enough to actually buy the battery...not without returning the controller. Now, for some, this would be a non-issue -- obviously take back the silly controller, but we have two factors killing me on this. A) I LOVE this game and the idea of it being two player to play either guitar OR bass is awesome and B) I've been waiting for this since we got it...um...a month ago (so maybe there are issues with my delayed gratification). So now picture me fretting over this thing.
Fret...fret...fret.
Ok, good. Now I'm done with that. Well, not really at the time, but we really don't have time for 4 hours worth of mind-numbing non-action. At the end of my night, I went to automotive and asked for them to test my battery. I was sent out to the "barn" to ask the lady out there. The lady out there sent me to the guy inside for him to go out to my car and do it (and this is how these things go, too).
At this point, I want to keep the controller, so I'm chanting, "make it fixable, make it fixable." Guy disconnects and says, "yeah, you need to replace the battery." I say (@#^(%@*! to myself. I agree to the change and he says to go back to the lady in the barn to write up a ticket on it. Argh!
So I go back to the barn and wait in line (I being the one not in a car waiting) behind someone getting all kinds of stuff checked on their car. Then it's my turn and she walks over to my car to get the needed info. I get a price quote and ask, "so how long is this going to take?" She says, "Well, yours won't take that long, but you have four people ahead of you. I guess I should have written it up when you first came over, so you'd be first in line."
(Insert smacking of forehead)
An hour later, I see a guy come in with my keys and battery, and he hands it off to the guy behind the counter. I put away my iPod (I was watching Exorcist: The Beginning -- don't laugh, it was actually pretty good), and stand out there, waiting. He puts the keys on the counter and walks off. My thought: how typical. He pops back around the corner and calls for a manager. I think this is odd, but maybe something they did for an employee takes some kind of special permission. After all, management (wait, not big enough: MANAGEMENT --- that's better) doesn't trust anyone with anything. Most of the managers have the attitude of "I'm a manager and you're not," so most of the time, most of them are intolerable.
So I walk over to my battery. It has a ship date on it: July 05. It also states that it had a three year free replacement guarantee. My wheels are turning. Could I be getting this for free? I don't mind telling you that it would be an answer to my prayers of that morning. The manager arrived and I quietly watched the transaction from across the lobby area. They discussed it quietly as they pressed the buttons, and I was called over and informed that it was within the free replacement time frame and there would be no cost for what was done. It was all I could do to hold in my jubilation until I got in the car. After all, I need to show that I expected it to be free, since it's my car, and I should know. Right?
Now, I'm a die hard Christian and have been, and I don't mind telling anyone. For me, it's a lifestyle choice like any other lifestyle choice. I want to live in the Christian walk, follow Jesus and the works, and it works well for me. However, I was upset after so many bouts of rotten luck and as soon as I start doing well, I get hit with some other setback. Well, Twila Paris was right when she said God is in control, and even the Queen gave me a little chastising for my lack of faith.
So today (forgive me for being a little preachy, but how that battery thing played out was a religious experience), I leave you with this, which she had read to me before, and sums up what we've been through and where we are:
Psalms 66 (8-20 being the golden section)
1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Selah
5 Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man's behalf!
6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.
7 He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Selah
8 Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you-
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Selah
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
We went out a few times during the week to see if a controller was anywhere in town, since I'd seen on Amazon that a third party one was coming out Friday, but that a non-third party one had been out for a little while. No dice on finding one anywhere.
Friday night came and it's off to the world's largest retailer, but big surprise... After driving about all night, now the car won't start. I give the Engineer a call and then call the store to let the manager know I'll be late. We determine kinda quickly that the issue is the battery and probably not enough cranking amps, since it had enough voltage. The Engineer gave me a jump and followed me to the store; the car shuddered on some stops, but we made it.
So that evening, while wandering through the store, I found it. Up on a shelf was a stand-alone guitar controller for the Wii. It called to me to be acquired immediately lest some early shopper deprive me of the one I need. I took it down immediately, bought it along with a couple items the Queen needed, and toted it to the trunk of my now completely-unable-to-start car. It was a little cool in the trunk, so I covered the controller with the Queen's coat (yeah, like that will keep it from getting cold).
Well, then enter the horror of a completely idle mind -- I knew that a new battery would cost me dearly the next morning, and my mind wandered to the state of the bank account and I realized that when everything was added together, I didn't have enough to actually buy the battery...not without returning the controller. Now, for some, this would be a non-issue -- obviously take back the silly controller, but we have two factors killing me on this. A) I LOVE this game and the idea of it being two player to play either guitar OR bass is awesome and B) I've been waiting for this since we got it...um...a month ago (so maybe there are issues with my delayed gratification). So now picture me fretting over this thing.
Fret...fret...fret.
Ok, good. Now I'm done with that. Well, not really at the time, but we really don't have time for 4 hours worth of mind-numbing non-action. At the end of my night, I went to automotive and asked for them to test my battery. I was sent out to the "barn" to ask the lady out there. The lady out there sent me to the guy inside for him to go out to my car and do it (and this is how these things go, too).
At this point, I want to keep the controller, so I'm chanting, "make it fixable, make it fixable." Guy disconnects and says, "yeah, you need to replace the battery." I say (@#^(%@*! to myself. I agree to the change and he says to go back to the lady in the barn to write up a ticket on it. Argh!
So I go back to the barn and wait in line (I being the one not in a car waiting) behind someone getting all kinds of stuff checked on their car. Then it's my turn and she walks over to my car to get the needed info. I get a price quote and ask, "so how long is this going to take?" She says, "Well, yours won't take that long, but you have four people ahead of you. I guess I should have written it up when you first came over, so you'd be first in line."
(Insert smacking of forehead)
An hour later, I see a guy come in with my keys and battery, and he hands it off to the guy behind the counter. I put away my iPod (I was watching Exorcist: The Beginning -- don't laugh, it was actually pretty good), and stand out there, waiting. He puts the keys on the counter and walks off. My thought: how typical. He pops back around the corner and calls for a manager. I think this is odd, but maybe something they did for an employee takes some kind of special permission. After all, management (wait, not big enough: MANAGEMENT --- that's better) doesn't trust anyone with anything. Most of the managers have the attitude of "I'm a manager and you're not," so most of the time, most of them are intolerable.
So I walk over to my battery. It has a ship date on it: July 05. It also states that it had a three year free replacement guarantee. My wheels are turning. Could I be getting this for free? I don't mind telling you that it would be an answer to my prayers of that morning. The manager arrived and I quietly watched the transaction from across the lobby area. They discussed it quietly as they pressed the buttons, and I was called over and informed that it was within the free replacement time frame and there would be no cost for what was done. It was all I could do to hold in my jubilation until I got in the car. After all, I need to show that I expected it to be free, since it's my car, and I should know. Right?
Now, I'm a die hard Christian and have been, and I don't mind telling anyone. For me, it's a lifestyle choice like any other lifestyle choice. I want to live in the Christian walk, follow Jesus and the works, and it works well for me. However, I was upset after so many bouts of rotten luck and as soon as I start doing well, I get hit with some other setback. Well, Twila Paris was right when she said God is in control, and even the Queen gave me a little chastising for my lack of faith.
So today (forgive me for being a little preachy, but how that battery thing played out was a religious experience), I leave you with this, which she had read to me before, and sums up what we've been through and where we are:
Psalms 66 (8-20 being the golden section)
1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Selah
5 Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man's behalf!
6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.
7 He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Selah
8 Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you-
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Selah
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
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